New York Mets News, Opinions, and Hope for a World Series Victory

Category Archives: Latest News

The Post got Viggo Mortensen to write a preview of the 2015 Mets. It’s pretty good except for the minor error to mention EY Jr. as a part of the team. He signed a minor league deal with the Braves this week. But otherwise, it’s a pretty solid fan piece.

Mortensen wrote about Matt Harvey and the other pitchers “…Add rookie sensation de Grom, plus rock-solid Colón, Wheeler, Gee, Niese, Torres, Mejia, Familia, Montero, Edgin, Black, Syndergaard… could be an intimidating pitching staff. Don’t count Parnell out either; he could come back with a vengeance as a closer. Sorry if I am leaving anyone out. Bottom line is that the Mets have a lot of talented young pitchers.” I give Mortensen an “A” for effort and optimism.

The Mets and Daniel Murphy avoided arbitration by agreeing to a salary for 2015. Murphy will be paid $8.0 million for the last season with the Mets before reaching free agency for the first time in his career. Lucas Duda and Jenrry Mejia still haven’t reached salary agreements with the Mets. Arbitration hearings will be held in February although the Mets haven’t gone to arbitration with a player since 2008.

The New York Post reports that baseball sources confirmed that Mets co-owner Saul Katz not only wanted to sell his stake in the Mets, he tried to convince Fred Wilpon to sell as well. Apparently, Wilpon is intent on leaving the Mets in Jeff’s hands and has no interest in selling.

According to a report in the NY Post, the Mets are still trying unsuccessfully to trade Ike Davis. The Orioles, Brewers, and Pirates have all had some level of interest in Davis this offseason. But Sandy Alderson hasn’t been able to close a deal.

Apparently, Alderson is seeking a top pitching prospect in return for Davis. The names that have come up are 20- year old Eduardo Rodriguez from the Orioles and Tyler Thornburg from the Brewers.

It’s hard to imagine the Mets getting a big return for Davis after the last two seasons. Sure, Davis had 32 home runs in 2012 but he did all of the damage in the second half. He couldn’t hit at all in the first half of that season. I think the Mets are rightfully ready to move on from Davis and Alderson shouldn’t have unrealistic expectations about his value on the trade market.

The Mets finalized a 2-year/$20 million contract with Bartolo Colon yesterday. He’s over 40 years old and has been suspended for PED use in the past. But it’ll help get the Mets through the 2014 season without Matt Harvey. Colon had a big year with the A’s last season with 18 wins and a 2.65 ERA.

We’ll see if Colon can duplicate his performance with the Mets. Even if he gets 9 or 10 wins with an ERA under 4.00, that would be a win for the Mets.

Las Vegas 51’s first baseman Ike Davis hit two home runs last night for the second straight game. After two-plus months of misery at the plate with the Mets, it looks like Ike might have his swing back. He’s had 39 at-bat’s in Vegas and is hitting .333/.480/.744 with a 1.224 OPS. He has 4 home runs and 8 RBI’s in 11 games.

The Pacific Coast League is a notorious hitters league. But for anyone worried that Ike had lost the ability to play baseball (a la Jason Bay), that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Lucas Duda has filled in admirably at first base since Daniel Murphy moved back to second base. I think it’s safe to say that most Mets fan feel that Davis has a much higher upside than Duda as a Major League player.

Expect to see Ike back with the Mets pretty quickly. He’s making over $3 million this year and that’s far too much salary for a minor league player. He’s getting paid to play for the Mets, not the 51’s.